Family Values
by UKHoneyB
Summary: AUFuture fic. Missing kids...new enemies...old allies...tense relationships...who can you trust?
1. Part One

**Family Values (tentative title)**  
by HoneyB

**Disclaimer:**Nope, sorry, I don't own them. If I did, I would be planning a comeback for Rachel! I admit that, after 6 months of therapy, I don't own the characters of _Max Steel_, I'm just borrowing them. I make no profit from this (until the people who make it hire me)...oops, got to go back into therapy!

**Timeframe:**AU/Future fic

**Rating:**Honestly, if you know me, no higher than PG-13 (I only did an 'R' for a April Fools joke!) 

**AN:**Okay, despite my plans to get rid of my insane habit of creating OC's, I've done it again! I'm working on a comeback fic including Rachel, but getting nowhere on it (Not surprising, considering that it was thought on an insomniatic night(translation: I thought up the idea whilst I was asleep and didn't get back to sleep until about two hours later!)) This might take a bit longer than usual to do, as I have about 20 other fics to write at the moment, and I need to get to grips with HTML programming.

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Part One:

"Hey, Tayana, wait up!" A male voice called out across the concrete slab that was the school car park. Tayana looked up from adjusting her knee pads, smiled, and waved. She had shoulder-length brown hair, parted to the left hand side and intense green eyes. She was wearing a simple light blue strap top and a pair of jeans.

"Hey Silvanito!" Tayana called back, now readjusting her elbow pads, her bangs falling into her face. "What happened, you're not normally this late."

"Sorry, I got held back by Mr. Stevenson. Apparently I forgot to hand in the essay we were supposed to do." Silvanito replied. He had short brown hair and light hazel eyes which always gave him the impression that he was laughing. He was wearing a white top with a gray jacket on top and jeans.

"Sounds like something he'd say to me. Of course, he'd keep me longer than five minutes." Tayana replied, sitting down on the ground to put her rollerblades on.

"He managed to find it in the end. He'd been using it as a coaster for his coffee cup." Silvanito replied, walking over to the bike shed and unlocking his bike. "What do you think? Proper mountain bike, I got it a couple of days ago from my father."

"Pretty cool," Tayana replied, looking at it. Jet black in color, suspension and the typical N-Tek logo on the side. "Can you help me up?" She asked, holding out one of her hands. "If I try to get up myself I always end up doing the splits." She added, earning herself a laugh from Silvanito. He dropped his bike onto the ground, still smiling, to help her.

"Not funny," she said as a reply as he helped her up. Silvanito kept a firm grip on her arms as she wobbled before managing to find her balance.

"Thanks," she commented, skating a few times around the car park.

"Hey, no problem _hermana_." Silvanito replied, picking up his bike and pushing it.

Both Tayana and Silvanito walked home, talking about various, normal things like the recent basketball game on TV a couple of nights ago, or their expected grades.

"My mom's going to go mad, I've caught glimpses of my report card, it looks like I'm heading for a 'D' in language studies." Tayana complained, skating around a nearby tree, waiting for Silvanito to catch up.

"Why do you think she's going to kill you? It's not like languages is that important." Silvanito replied, the clinking of his bike chain echoing around the dead street.

"Sure, maybe not to your parents, but certainly to mine. Both my mom and dad think that getting grades is really all that matters." Tayana smiled. "My dad might think a little differently, but my mom wears the pants in the house."

"I'm not that bothered about grades myself, I'm more interested in sports."

"Yeah, well, you don't need to worry about you grades; you have at least an 'A' average in most subjects. Me? I'm lucky if I can hold onto a 'C'." Tayana replied, a small smile creeping over her face. "Race you!" She called out suddenly, racing off through the streets.

"Hey, that is so not fair!" Silvanito replied, mounting his bike and beginning to pedal furiously.

"All's fair in love and war, and as one person's going to win, and one's going to loose, this is a war!" Tayana replied over her shoulder, laughing.

"Come on Silvanito, are you telling me that you can't even beat a girl?" Tayana teased, turning around so that she was blading backwards, a habit she did often.

Concentration etched on his face, Silvanito passed Tayana in a blur of speed; Tayana had barely registered what had happened before he skidded sideways and fell onto the gravel path, hard.

"Silvanito, are you alright?" Tayana asked, worry etched on her face, quickly turning into relief when she saw him standing up.

"I'm fine, but I don't think the same way about my bike." He replied, lifting it up and standing it on the ground upside down, carefully inspecting it. "I knew it; the chain's come lose. Damn it!" He swore gently.

"Move over," Tayana said, hooking one of her fingers through the chain and pulling it. She looked closely at it, before letting go of the chain and straightening up. "The chain's caught; I'll fix it when we get to my house." Tayana commented, slowly beginning to blade once again. The journey continued uneventful, and the soon found themselves at Tayana's house.

Stepping onto the front door steps, Tayana unlocked the door and swung it open.

"Mom? Dad? Are you home?" Tayana called out, and the answering silence in the house gave her her answer. Turning around, she walked out of the doorway and unlocked the garage door, manoeuvring Silvanito's bike into it. Awkwardly walking into the living room Tayana took off her roller blades and switched the TV on, changing the channel to MTV.

"You want anything?" Tayana called out from the kitchen after dumping her roller blades in the hallway, where the sound of running water could be heard.

"I'm fine," Silvanito called out, sitting down on the couch, flicking absent-mindedly through the channels.

"Okay, if you're sure." Tayana replied, walking back into the living room carrying a glass of coke, her hands slightly cleaner than a few moments ago.

Barely five minutes after they had both arrived, the unmistakeable sound of the front door opening could be heard and Tayana stood up, heading towards the doorway.

"Mom, dad, is that you? I take it you had to work late because you weren't…" Tayana stopped in mid-sentence and began to slowly back away.

"Tayana, what's…who the hell is that?!" Silvanito whispered into her ear, having seen the intruder as well.

He had blond hair, green eyes and a bionic left arm. He was wearing a sleeveless purple top, jeans and boots and was concentrating on opening drawers and emptying the contents over the floor, apparently not sure what he was looking for.

"Any ideas, Einstein?" Tayana whispered to Silvanito, and regretted it when she saw the devil-may-care grin spreading across his face.

"We attack," he stated simply.

"Silvanito, no!" Tayana whispered urgently, attempting to grab the sleeve of his jacket but just missing.

"Hey, did you know that breaking and entering is illegal?" Silvanito yelled out, and the thief's attention turned from the draws to Silvanito.

"Well, at least I know I haven't wasted a journey here," the thief replied, extending his arm into a gun and aiming it at Silvanito's head. 

With a lurch that made Tayana's stomach settle into her throat, the thief fired the gun, causing a smoking hole in the wall just above Silvanito's head. Silvanito, on the other hand, seemed not to care.

"I think your aim was a little off. Weren't you supposed to be aiming at me?" Alarmed at her friends' overconfidence, Tayana leapt from where she was crouching and was aiming for the back kitchen door. The thief wasn't content with letting her go.

"Aaah!" Tayana screamed slightly, taking a few paces backwards, realising how close the shot had been to her head.

"I would have thought being part of Team Steel that you'd both be more confident," he drawled.

"Who are you?" Tayana managed to say, holding back sobs.

"They call me Psycho. Your father, however, prefers the term Smilie." The thief, Psycho replied.

"Let's see if you're smiling after this!" Silvanito yelled, hurling a wooden chair at Psycho's head. In the time it took to blink, Psycho had turned around and sent the chair flying into the wall where it shattered.

Psycho aimed a kick at Silvanito's chest, knocking him back and stumbling over an abandoned desk drawer. Silvanito managed to regain his balance, and aimed one of his own punches at Psycho. Psycho blocked it and hit Silvanito on the shoulder, slamming him into the wall next to the broken chair.

Tayana looked up in fear but refused to move from where she was standing. Getting to his feet, Silvanito looked passed Psycho and at Tayana, and gave a small, almost invisible nod. Moving silently, Tayana placed herself behind Psycho and waited for Silvanito to attack.

Tayana swept Psycho's feet from underneath him just as Silvanito had delivered a high kick to Psycho's face. With Psycho stumbling backwards, Tayana managed to side-step him and kick him in the chest, and was standing next to Silvanito, before seeing his face properly.

The face both Silvanito and Tayana had seen was a mask, lying a few feet away from them. Psycho's real face was now staring at them intently, his mouth stretched into a permanent grin.

"Who _are_ you?" Tayana asked again, this time more in horror than fear.

"You're worst nightmare," Psycho replied, before nodding to someone behind them.

Someone quickly put a rag over Tayana's mouth and nose, pinning her arms to her side, and the same happened to Silvanito.

_Don't breath!_ Tayana ordered herself, but it was too late: the sudden shock had made her gasp in fear, and her world was rapidly turning black.

Stepping over their unconscious bodies, Psycho spoke into a communicator. "We've collected the prize."

_TBC..._

A/N: A cookie to the person who correctly guesses who Tayana and Silvanito are related to!


	2. Part Two

Part Two:

The glass crunched underneath as Max walked through the open doorway, the door itself having been thrown halfway up the stairs. Shaking his head regretfully he clenched his fists, turning around and walking straight back out of the door.

"Berto, you there? Oh, come on!" He muttered angrily, a burst of static surging through his bio-link as he climbed back into his car, turning the key in the ignition and racing back to N-Tek.

Having been reinstated ten years ago by the US government, N-Tek was now an official agency and meant that its actions weren't questioned.

It also meant that people like Psycho, Electrix and even Woody had been able to cause chaos for near eight years without risk of being caught, and had all seemingly disappeared off the map.

"Hey Steel, what's the rush?" Kat called out as he barreled past, nearly knocking her to the ground.

"Tayana and Silvanito have been attacked." Max yelled over his shoulder, skidding to a halt as someone grabbed his arm.

"Steel, we know. We've already got agents on the case. If you really want to help, get your butt out of here and help look for them." Kat said as Max yanked his arm out of her grip. "Move Steel," she added when he didn't budge.

"Max, we found them," Berto's voice echoed in the hallway, masking his footsteps as he approached the pair. "They're heading on a bearing of 130 degrees."

"Where would that put them?" Max asked, turning his attention from Kat to him.

"Current course? The should end up in Salvador, Brazil."

A/N: I know, a very short part, but I've decided, instead of breaking this chapter up, I'll start a new chapter whenever I'll be changing perspective from Max, Rachel, Kat and Berto to Tayana and Silvanito. I'll try not to leave you hanging for almost eleven months like I did before. Oh, and I'm not going to tell who got the parent question right, but I am surprised that none of you even thought to factor in people other than the four main agents.


	3. Part Three

Part Three:

Fists slammed against the metal door, the sound reverberating both in the empty corridor beyond and inside the room. Slamming against the door once again, Tayana paused, brushing her bangs out of her face and turned to look at Silvanito. The room they were in was industrial-gray, the two chairs and beds bolted to the door, a thin mattress on each of the beds, of which one Silvanito was lying on.

"What are we doing here? Why are we here?" She snapped, watching as Silvanito lazily opened his eyes, looking up at her with no expression. After a brief few seconds a small smile flickered across his face, but quickly disappeared.

"You don't know, do you?" He asked simply, sitting up and turning to look at the ceiling.

"I don't know _what_?" Tayana said, annoyed as she clenched her fists in anger, turning to look at the door as footsteps approached, then disappeared.

"I would have thought your parents would have told you by now." He said, again in an oddly calm voice, which infuriated Tayana more than anything else.

"Told me _what_! Silvanito, start talking in English! Start making sense!" She hissed, fury boiling over as Silvanito closed his eyes once again and turned his back on her, lying down and staring at the wall.

"You won't do any damage at all to that door; it's a titanium alloy, virtually indestructible, even for the strongest people on the planet." He quickly turned to look at Tayana before resuming his old position.

"So that means we're stuck until that…'Smiley' guy shows up again." Tayana said dejectedly, her shoulders slumping as she sighed. "Who was he?"

"A terrorist, used to work for an organization called DREDD."

"Never heard of it," Tayana said, kneeling in front of Silvanito. "Guess that doesn't mean anything though; there are tons of terrorist organizations out there."

"I'd actually be surprised if you had heard of it. It disbanded about eighteen years ago." Silvanito said, turning to look at Tayana, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I only know about it 'cause my dad told me. A terrorist organization filled with freaks; people who could shoot energy from their arms, people who could harness the power of electricity, and even someone who was half-human, half-snake."

"Sounds weird," Tayana said with an attempted smile. "Who went after them?"

Silvanito shrugged, "No one knows. My dad said he only knew about them 'cause he encou–" He broke off as the door swung open, both him and Tayana turning their heads to look at who had entered the room.

"Not very nice in here, is it?" A young girl sniffed, unimpressed as she looked around the room. Looking no older than twelve or thirteen, she had her blond hair up in pigtails and a hint of a brace was visible when she spoke. "I'm sorry, forgot to introduce myself, I'm Joanne. My father always says that I should be polite to guests."

_Guests?!_ Tayana thought angrily, glaring at the young girl. _How naïve_ is _she? We're anything but guests!_

"You know, it's not at all polite to stare at someone." Joanne said, catching Tayana's glare. "Do either of you play chess? No one with the exception of my father knows, and he's been extremely busy recently."

"I can play," Silvanito said, leaning on his elbows as he aimed for at better look at the girl. "My dad taught me, I'm a pretty good player." He quickly stopped talking as Tayana's glare switched targets from Joanne to him.

The girl clapped her hands together, "Goody! I'll see if I can arrange a match. Will your friend want to come?"

"Yeah, I'll watch," Tayana said flatly, watching as the girl turned around and sauntered out of the room, twirling one of her pigtails around in her hand. "Okay, she is either completely insane, or completely naïve." Tayana said, shaking her head ruefully.

"Creepy kid, wasn't she?" Silvanito agreed, grinning at Tayana. "The good thing is, if we can get out of here we'll stand a better chance of escaping."

"Exactly what I thought," Tayana replied. "I wonder who her father is?"

Silvanito shrugged, "Probably someone who works here, I don't think she'd be allowed otherwise."

"Good point."

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"Psycho, get your butt in here! We've got a problem that needs fixing."

"Isn't it a problem you could fix yourself?" Psycho said as he walked into the room.

"Nu-uh," Joanne replied, shaking her head so fast that her pigtails began hitting her in the face. "Their mommies and daddies are following them somehow, they got a tracking device on at least one of them. We need to move bases, we can use the one father's got in Tokyo." Joanne giggled. "I always wanted a robo-kitty."

Psycho inwardly rolled his eyes. Despite the fact that her IQ hovered near the 200 mark she still acted like a child the majority of the time which, depending on your point of view, was either amusing or annoying. Psycho was leaning towards the latter of those two options.

"There is a problem with moving," Psycho said cautiously. "If we move Team Steel will simply track them down once again."

"Do you really think I was going to forget those trackers?" Joanne smiled, revealing her braces. "Why do you think I asked them for a game of chess? We can find the trackers then and take them away, or switch them with harmless stuff if necessary." She scratched her nose, screwing it up as she did so. "You think if I held those people in Japan hostage they'd let me have a robo-kitty for free?" She said abruptly as Psycho was nearly out of the door.

He slammed it shut in irritation, shaking his head and knocking the nearest minion out of his way.

_How did I get stuck with a thirteen year old as my boss?_

**Reviewer Replies:**

**Akili-chan: **Glad I got you confused :P I'm not going to stay straight out, but I will be giving clues along the way. You'll probably know who Silvanito's father is if you were looking closely at this chapter. Yes, the majority of the characters in this fic will be around 40 or so.

**BlackRose715378:** Tayana is fifteen, Silvanito is sixteen. You think this story is amazing? :blushes: I just hope it's gonna be worth the wait! I'm working on an original spy novel, with hopes of publishing someday soon.

**GirlWithTheHat:** See? No waiting eleven months! I know it was short, but I had a major brain-freeze on what I could write for the second chapter (actually, got it again for the fourth). Hope this one's better ;)

**Sockenfresser42:** Hey, you're back! Hope you're feeling better now, and here's a new chapter to cheer you up.

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**Random fact: **Kat's original name for the series was Jet. Doesn't seem to have the same ring, does it?


	4. Part Four

Part Four:

            The flames from a local forest fire flickered and gradually dimmed, revealing nothing but piles of ash and twisted steel, and occasionally glimpses of ivory-white bones where the wind had picked up the ash and blown it away, leaving the skeletons exposed to the elements.

            Judging by the layers of ash and soil that had piled up and around the skeletons, they had been like that for many years, the flesh gradually decomposing to leave only the bones and what could have been a forest home.

            However, as with a lot of things, looks could be deceiving; Dread could dismantle a complete base in little more than two hours, leaving behind the destruction that N-Tek came face to face with now.

            "Let me guess," Max said, picking up Tayana's tracer and looking at it, before throwing it back down into the ash with impressive force. "They knew we were coming."

            "Sorry _hermano_, I didn't realize," Berto said through the bio-link, taking his glasses off and wiping his eyes before replacing them. "At least we know they were here at one point."

            "For all we know they could have stopped here, dumped the tracers and torched the place before heading anywhere in the world." Max said, attempting to reason not just with Berto but also with his own mind.

            "Max, we'll find them, _both_ of them."

            "It's not Silvanito I'm worried about, it's Tayana. Silvanito can take care of himself, but Tayana barely knows a thing."

            "If it comes down to it, we'll get Tayana out first."

            "I know bro, I know." Max smiled weakly. "Just doesn't stop me worrying about her. I still see her as a kid though, I still see her at the age she first saw N-Tek."

            "And escaped, causing complete havoc in the base, not to mention to my console?" Max chuckled. "It took weeks to repair, I still don't want to think about how she managed to destroy it so completely."

            "Hey Steel, Nez just called, we need to move over to Japan. Agents are reporting a whole lotta DREAD activity taking place there." Kat called out from what was the opposite side of the base. "Could be just a ruse," she added, hands on her hips.

            "Could be the real thing," Max retorted as the Hawk landed next to him, Kat quickly walking over to it. "Either way, it needs investigating. Let's go."

**Reader Replies:**

**Akili-chan:** Yep, it does look like Psycho's gonna have another boss he hates. I kinda feel sorry for him now :P

**Blackrose715378:** Well, you already know that two of your parentage guesses are correct, so there's not much more to say.

**A/N: **Okay, I seriously hate this now. I can't seem to come up with anything _decent_ to write for this story. Don't worry, I will continue with it, but don't be too annoyed if it's not up to my usual standard, okay? Also, you should be piecing together the parentage of Silvanito and Tayana by now.


	5. Part Five

Part Five:

"Oh, brilliant, a sniff of a rescue and we get moved to a new base," Tayana said in annoyance, regaining her balance after tripping over a loose stone in the floor. "They can't even be bothered to change the decorations in the room."

"Like they'd have time," Silvanito replied, grabbing Tayana's arm and pulling her to a halt. "Not only are you making me nauseous, you're also wasting your energy. Sit down and relax, there's no point in wearing yourself out and nothing for you to worry about."

"That might be the case," Tayana said, pulling her arm out of Silvanito's grasp and beginning to pace once more. "But I'm not gonna sit around here and wait to be rescued; there's gotta be something here that can help us." As she spoke, her eyes flickered to the ceiling, scanning for an escape route but instinctively knowing that nothing would be there. Silvanito sighed.

"Hey genius, we'd probably be out of here by now if you weren't insistent on just sitting there and waiting to be moved." Tayana snapped, briefly glaring at Silvanito before resuming her search of the ceiling.

The room they were being held in was almost identical to the room they were previously held in, with the one exception being the thick dust covering everything in sight, giving the impression that this place had not been used in years.

"We'll be out of here soon enough," Silvanito replied calmly. "Just make sure you pay attention to where we're led if we're taken out of these cells."

"I will," Tayana snapped. "We've gone through this a million times, I'm sure I would have remembered it by now!"

"Tsk, tsk, fighting between the two of you, not a very good sign," a disembodied female voice said, echoing around the cell. "I would have thought the two of you had more sense than simply to waste your energy arguing the whole time."

"We're not arguing," Tayana snapped again, scanning the room as if to try and find the person who was speaking.

"You won't find me, no matter how good your eyesight is." The voice continued, a hint of a smile in her voice, accompanied by a slight shimmering of the air as a woman appeared.

She looked to be in her mid-twenties, dark brown hair falling mid-way to her back and her hazel eyes narrowed in and expression somewhere between humor and annoyance.

"Right, another one of DREAD's minions. We're not interested," Silvanito said, rolling his eyes. "So, what, you're here to try and persuade us to join DREAD?"

"Not in the slightest," the woman replied with a short laugh. "You shouldn't always be so quick to assume things Silvanito."

His skin, normally a mixture of brown and white, turned deathly pale. "How…did you know my name?"

The woman sighed, rolling her eyes theatrically. "Everyone knows who you are. At least," she smiled at Tayana, "Everyone who is aware of who your parents are."

"Our parents are normal," Tayana said, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. "_We're_ normal. Why would you know our parents, and more to the point, _who are you_?"

"You can call me Rose Black. Your father," she made a sweeping motion and indicated Tayana with her hand, "Knows me very well, as we have met on occasion, although I doubt he would believe anything I uttered."

"You've met him? How?" Silvanito asked, glaring at Rose as she spoke, arms folded across his chest. "The only way you would have met him is…" He broke off, looking over at Tayana.

"What? She would have only met him if what?" Tayana asked. Silvanito remained silent, ignoring Tayana and instead looking back at Rose.

"Silvanito, you're quite right. I do know him because of that. However, I am not your enemy at this time. I am, and always have, been working against DREAD." Silvanito cut his gaze from Rose and instead began scanning the walls and ceiling of the room. "There are no bugs in this room; there have never been any. After all, what would be the point in listening to the ramblings of two annoyed teenagers?"

Laughing heartily, Rose turned her back on the teenagers, walking towards the door, gradually growing more and more transparent as she walked, eventually passing right through the wall once she was completely concealed.

"Human chameleon," Tayana whispered, a small smile appearing on her face, looking back towards the door as it opened and a DREAD minion filled the doorway.

"Miss. Dread requests your presence in her office for a chess match." He said, keeping his eyes focused on Silvanito as he spoke. "You may accompany him if you wish." He added, looking at Tayana.

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**A/N:** Hey guys! Woop, just got back [Friday] from seeing "I, Robot" (very interesting film, kinda made me feel geeky when they were talking about wetware and such 'cause I knew all about it).

**Reviewer Replies:**

**Akili-chan:** Well, if I encountered Joanne whilst in a DREAD base, I'd definitely think she was evil. The only reason she doesn't seem like it is because….nah, I won't spoil it, I'll let you wait until I've written it into the story.

**Blackrose715378:** Thanks for the comment on my writing; I try to make it fairly descriptive whenever I can. Oo I seem to be making the characters stay true to form? You sure you're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?

**GirlWithTheHat:** Hehe, I can trust that we will be seeing quite a bit of Japan soon, especially with the events that'll happen! :P


	6. Part Six

Part Six:

"So far, on-site intelligence has showed that this DREAD base is heavily guarded, more so than any base we have encountered before." Green eyes scanned the people standing in front of her as she paced at the front of the room, blond hair still kept in its familiar style.

"Apart from the obvious, that the building is comm. secured, it also appears that the building is wired to detect any person or item with a specific energy signal." Rachel's eyes caught Max's as she spoke, her looking away before he did and continued the briefing.

"DREAD minions guard almost every conceivable entrance of the base. The only way we are going to be able to bypass them is by taking them out, swiftly before they have the chance to alert anyone else in the building."

Rachel paused in the middle of the room, hands behind her back and scanned the people in the room, her eyes catching Max's once more.

"How are you holding up?" Max asked kindly once everyone had left, walking over to where Rachel was sorting through a mound of paperwork.

"I'm fine," Rachel said quickly, not even looking at Max to give him the benefit of the doubt in the situation.

"No, you're not," Max snapped, getting the reaction he hoped for; Rachel finally looked at him.

"How else do you expect me to feel? I've spent years covering the restructuring of the DREAD organization and then I find that my daughter has been taken hostage and has been brought here. Do you know how frustrating this feels?"

"I'm her father, of course I know –" Max stopped talking, turning around to look at an agent he had heard walking up to the two of them.

"Leeds, all the agents have been assembled. We await your orders."

"Assault begins in five minutes," Rachel called out to the agents, turning her back on Max the same way she did fourteen years ago.

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**A/N:** Okay guys, I have to tell you this: Currently I'm working on nine different stories, of which two are high-demand. The two stories on high-demand are this one and UKI, an original spy book I'm writing, which I am aiming to have been sent to a publisher's by the end of this year. So, if I'm ever late on writing a chapter of this, it's either because I'm rushing to finish UKI or I've got writer's block again, okay?

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**Reviewer Replies:**

**Akili-chan: **Tayana's going to have a shock when she finds out? I can definitely say that'll be true :P

**Blackrose715378:** You like the new character? Her powers appeared as I was typing, thought it would add an interesting twist :P


	7. Part Seven

Part Seven:

Ten black figures stood alone on the checked floor, spaced out on the grid, the white figures, of which nine still survived, preferred to stay together and close their ranks, attempting to avoid defeat.

"Your turn," Joanne said in a sing-song voice as she moved the black Rook in line with the white King, only a Pawn separating the two pieces. Silvanito smiled.

"You're still in check, you need no move your King instead," he said, and watched as Joanne pouted.

"I knew that," she said angrily, moving the Rook back to its previous position and instead moving the King forward one space, Silvanito almost instantly moving his Knight one space left and two back, placing it directly in line with the black Rook.

"Why make such a move?" Joanne said with a smile, capturing the Knight and looking up at Silvanito, triumphantly.

"To get your Rook," Silvanito said in reply, taking the Rook with a simple Pawn. Joanne pouted.

"Not fair," she sighed, moving a Pawn forwards, watching as Silvanito's remaining Bishop took another of her Pawns, putting it directly in line with her Bishop. She took it, and her expression turned from glee to annoyance yet again as Silvanito took her Bishop as quickly as she had taken his. Annoyed, she moved the Queen the length of the board to take a Pawn.

"Check," she said defiantly, and Silvanito smiled slowly as he took her Queen and watched her mouth drop.

"Keep your eye on all pieces at once, always think ten moves ahead," Silvanito offered by way of advice. Joanne instantly made the same mistake again, moving her Bishop directly in line with Silvanito's King.

"Ch-" she began, her eyes filling with fury as Silvanito took her Bishop effortlessly. Moving a Pawn forwards, she watched as Silvanito moved his Queen across the board and took his Knight.

"Fine," she huffed, moving a Pawn forwards, putting it directly in line with the King, and was not surprised to see it taken. "You've won."

"Just because I've won," Silvanito said as she moved her remaining Pawn forwards, "Does not mean you should give in easily." He added, moving his King out of harm's way.

"Check," Joanne said once more, this time listlessly as she moved her Rook in line with the King. Silvanito moved the King diagonally, backwards and to the left, and hid a smile as Joanne moved her Rook accordingly.

"Boom," he said with a smile, taking her Rook. "Looks like I win."

Joanne stuck her chin out, a mark of both annoyance and defiance. "I'm not letting you go until one of us wins," she said, moving her King forwards.

"Fine with me," Silvanito said, leaning back in his chair after moving his Rook to check her King. Joanne moved it to Silvanito's right, and waited as he moved one of his pawns forwards two spaces.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Joanne said in annoyance, leaning over the board and carefully scrutinizing it.

"I think you'll find you can," Silvanito smiled and took the Pawn she had just moved.

"Fine," Joanne sighed. Within five moves, she lost. "You're good," she said carefully, as it to avoid showing her real feelings, looking at the board. Her King was enclosed by two pawns and a Rook, all placed diagonally. Silvanito's Queen was placed behind it, on the back row, and his Bishop covered the last two places her King could move to. His King was nestled safely on the other side of the board.

"Can we go now?" Tayana sighed, earning her a glare from Joanne.

"Sure you can go," Joanne replied with a smile, turning to look at one of the minions that had been keeping guard in the room. "Take them back, but be careful." She said, with a slight glare in Tayana's direction.

Tayana and Silvanito stood up, Tayana avoiding Joanne's eyes and walked out of the room, flanked by half a dozen guards, each holding a stun gun, faces covered with masks.

"Ready?" Tayana whispered to Silvanito, smiling at one of the guards as he looked at them suspiciously.

"Born that way," Silvanito replied, a devil-may-care grin on his face.

"No talking," one of the guards said, jabbing Tayana in the back with the butt of his gun as he spoke.

"Hey, no one gets to boss ME around!" Tayana yelled, slamming her fist into the side of the guard's head and rendering his unconscious. "Let's go for it!" Glancing over her should, Tayana did a back flip, hitting one of the guards in the head. Tayana followed it up by slamming the guard against the wall, rendering his unconscious.

Twisting around, Silvanito his one of the guards with a spinning kick, knocking him into the wall. Silvanito grabbed the fallen gun and turned it on, pointing it at the guard. The guard had been shaking his head in an attempt to clear the confusion in his mind, looking up in fear as he heard the crackle of a stun gun.

"I hear these things hurt like hell," Silvanito said with a grin, jabbing the gun into the guard's chest, tuning out the guard's scream of pain.

"Nice work," Tayana said breathlessly as she threw the last unconscious guard onto the ground, walking towards Silvanito. "Now what?"

"We get out of here," Silvanito said, switching off the stun gun and sliding it into the back pocket of his jeans as an alarm sounded throughout the base.

"We're in trouble," Tayana said with a groan, turning around as the sound of footsteps echoing on metal thundered through the corridor. "I count at least twelve guards."

"Who's brilliant idea was it to try and escape?" Silvanito asked, disgruntled as more DREAD minions arrived, swelling the ranks and making escape near-impossible..

"Yours," Tayana replied. A crackle and flash of light was heard and seen moments after she spoke, and were followed by two words Silvanito would never have expected to hear.

"Going Turbo!"

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**A/N:** Ack! Sorry, sorry, sorry! Computer crashed…lost all my work (except my Animorphs fic. rolls eyes Got figure). So…haven't really been in the mood to write this until recently.

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**Reviewer Replies:**

**Blackrose715378** – Heh, I've had an unhelpful muse for the past two months on this it seems. The issues between Max and Rachel…I doubt they'll be resolved by the end, but you'll know _why_ they seem close to animosity.

**Akili-chan** – No, I don't think that was what people expected (come on, they think that Max and Rachel will get over their problems in a flash :p).

**GirlWithTheHat** – Ooh, gummy bears! grabs the whole pack I love these! Hope you haven't forgotten about this story though.


	8. Part Eight

Part Eight:

"So this is Japan," Tayana said, tearing her gaze away from a shop window and smiling, slightly embarrassed. "I always wanted to come here. Well, not this way, obviously." An old woman walked past Tayana, and she turned around to have a closer look. "I recognize her."

Silvanito chuckled, "To me, all oriental people seem to look the same. Might be the same with you."

"No, I seriously recognize her," Tayana said, frowning and glancing over her shoulder once more. The old woman turned and looked back at Tayana, smiled and winked at Tayana, her eye color changing from a dark brown to a light hazel.

"See you in Del Oro," the woman mouthed, disappearing into a crowd of people pressed around a shop window.

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"Ow," Tayana moaned, sitting up and instinctively pressing a hand to her forehead. "Anyone got a painkiller?" she said to herself, opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings.

A lone bed, the one she was lying on, was in the center of a white-washed room. A chair sat near the bed, the rest having been stacked up in a corner. A plant with its tendons trailing everywhere had been placed in a white pot and had been sat on top of a low-rise cabinet, which in turn was sitting next to a chest of drawers, also painted white.

"Okay, this is definitely _not_ Japan," Tayana said, lying back down on her bed, staring up at the white ceiling, barely noticing that her clothes had been changed; she was now wearing her favourite, if tatty, pair of light green pajamas.

"Ah, you're finally awake," a woman said, walking into the room as she spoke. Tayana sat up, frowning at the woman as she moved closer.

The woman's black hair has been cropped short, although not as short as Kat's, a fair amount of it covering her green eyes. She was wearing a lab coat, a clipboard had been tucked under her left arm and she was holding a pen in her right hand.

"I was afraid they'd OD'ed on the tranquilisers, but you're feeling all right, aren't you?" Tayana nodded. "Good. Now, sorry for this, but I have to go; there are other patients –"

"Where's Silvanito?"

The woman frowned, "I'm certain that I don't know a person here by that name. Either he wasn't as injured as you were…"

_Or he's dead,_ Tayana's head slumped forwards onto her chest, beginning to berate herself about the fight at the base. _Carelessness is my middle name._ The door creaked open, Tayana jerking her head back up and glaring at the woman.

"Wait…where are you going?"

"I already informed you that I have other patients to attend to. As much as I'd like to stay and observe your…_unique_…abilities, I simply do not have the time. It may be best if you rested."

"'Unique abilities'?" Tayana said as the door closed behind the woman. "What is she talking about? Oh," her eyes went wide. "They know."

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**Reviewer Replies**

**Akili-chan** – ¬¬ Yes, you should write the next chapter of _your_ story after you bugged me to continue this (j/k)

**Blackrose715378** – Heh, glad you liked the chess game part (yes, I did use the chess board like I said ;)) Abigail babysitting Joanne? I'd give Abigail three hours before she murdered Joanne :P All of the other stuff I'm working on? looks at her profile Yeah, I think I've got a little _too_ much to work on. And yes, those asterisks did work.

**SarQueen4** – Yay! You're back! Finally! And you updated your story! Yes, I added in that cliff-hanger on purpose :P Won't find out who it was until the next chapter though :P


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